Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-04
which carry such desolation to the hearts

show much do you make dsy?" 1
asked OF the lad 8. the dump, round
faced boy who knew he had the butt end
Of the job and was not ill-pleased ct the
knowledge.
"Ffty-tive cents day." he replied.
as that the usual price for the boys?"
80, no. The slate pickers down below
only get IS cents"
"Do you find the work uuhealthy?"
"Well. don't know" the little rascal
grinned.
Down one fight of stairs-ii you can
call an inclined plank stairs-a plaint:ve
group OF worn looking old men poked the
chunks CT coal into their proper
receptscles, the proper size descend
irg al once to the chutes for
broken coal. the rest going 10
the crushers. Sad wrecks these veterans
totte-ing to the grave. Hollow checked
and holiog-chested, stOop- shouldcred,
tremuloGs, with shriily piping or husky
voices. They were better fitted for the
infrmarY Of sn Old mans home thsn for
this exposed perch ia dirty breaker.
"WhSt do you get for this?" l asked z
husky old nan.
"NinetY cents day, sir"
"Stesoy work."
"Not very, sir. They can't get cars al
wsys, you know, sir. Then We be's
"Ninety cents d&y5 Hardly for
tune"
"Indeed, you be right, sir; but she
better nor nothin'."
"But way haven't you Isid By enough
to live orr"
The poor soul turned bIeary eye OF
wonder on the questioner and said: As
G1d's above US, sir, they piver lei me.
I'va worruked twenty years an more for
Mister Pardee, but they niver let me get
ahead. Then me lungs went away, an'
an here be. can wurk il the mine
nc longer you see"
And that was his story in G nutshell
The story of thousands OF old men. There
are other thousands who, after working s
lifetine-twenty, thirty, forty years-ir
the mines, have been turned airitt in ole
age, when they were no longer useful
and when they obstinately refused to die,
But this is popularity which IS not
monCpolized by the coal operators.
Againtdown, and the giant crushers snC
the huge graduated cylinder screws IL
which the broken coal finds it's proper
hole and drops into its appointed plsct
come into view. Skiliful wCrkmen etfail
pay control these machines, assisted By
men aud boys at sC2nt wages. Tnel
comes the slate piCker5, and here we FIND
tender childhood working ten hours O. dsy
| for 81 c+nts an hour, and fines abundant
| Children. Can we call these cid faced
| little Wretches-thess men OF nine, ten
eleven and twelve years OF AEGEAN w,
call them children? Here they sit, blscl
faced, grimy counterp&rts Of their daidieE
in the mines below; sit Throughout INT
livelorg day, picking, picking tie SHARP
Cornered pisces OF slate from Out the Goa
you are 10 burn next winter.
'Do you call those boys twelve year
old?" vas asked the man il charge
They won't average eleven"
"Tnsts true enough" he answered
"but it's none Of my furneral. The.
will all tell you that is their age."
called trembling y0ungsser TO m
and asked his sge. "rwelve," he said.
"No, you are not. Tell me truly"
Twelve" said he, more family yet.
"Now, see here, bub, don't be afraid t
tell the truth. pn not agoing to hu;
you. Tell me your exact age"
: "Twelve next spring." he whispered.
, Another LAD, & little more bold, said Ii
first time trying thst he Was q "quarte
TO twelve"
AS meter Of fact the operators don
care whether + boy is twelve or ten. TT
law be hanged! A feH concerns mak
/ applicants bring letters from their pal
ents that they are % the legal ege.
other cases the sons Of widows are give
work when they ace known 10 be unde
! age. But usually nobody cares. Tn
law is dead letter.
II Is safe TO say that 10 per cent Of tn
: lads are physically injured by prematui
, labor. Go where they are at work an
! your eyes will discover the little sufe
ers. To see them st their work, pallid-
! for 10 amount Of cosl dust can hide t.
pallor-aerv5less, lacking every attribu
t OF healthy bCyho0d; 10 see them going
and from their work, silent and drool
) ing, with bowed heads and lack-lustt
eyes-these things would tell the stol
better than 10 900 words.
t There is something go Strocious in tn
2 dockege system practiced in this unhal
2 py region that | have MOI dared to Wri1
of it until after the most thorough inve
; tigation. one hesitates to believe
great millionaire concern guilty
: s:rsisht-out thievery; one doubts I'll
=, truthfulness OF those who bring Il
: charge. Yet VIVA: Shall be said whe
f every one Of thousands OF miners mef
!. exactly this charge, AID backs it up
S facts.
e The Upper Lehigh is one of the ba'
= mines IN the region. Here D. n Evan
{ now member of the state Legislator
: who, by the way, is black!isted |
e the companies and can get wei
t nowhere because ne fought in Il
e cause Of the men who put hi
4 in ohice-here Mr.. Evans worked f
# many years. AT enc tine, sitter thu
Y months Of steady work in the Upper L
5 high mines, Mr. Evans learned that
: had cared just S25. The rest of 4
r profits o. his labor beavers had be,
y stolen by the company through the chez
d marks Of the doCkage boss.
# The Nesquenoning mine of the Lehis
is Coal and Navigation Company is & gil
edged concern in the treatment Of
d men. II has neither the outraged
N company store system nor the c0mpa
i, doctor system. Yet l saw men thsl
ot honest, hardworking men-one CT the
If never tasted liquor, and that he owns
of little pasture lot for his COW shows th
" he is frugal mani saw men there w
had worked month and received
ia for it.
y And have seen men ct HsZleton,
JeddO, st Highland, ct HsZle Brook,